The Americans with Disabilities Act
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became federal law in 1992, many of us have little or no understanding of what it is. This is the first in a series of articles about the ADA meant to help rectify that. It borrows liberally from a U.S. Department of Justice publication.
The Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities that are like those provided to individuals on the basis of race, sex national origin, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in employment, public accommodations, transportation, State and local government services, and telecommunications.
I. Employment
Employers with 15 or more employees may not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities.
Employers must reasonably accommodate the disabilities of qualified applicants or employees, unless an undue hardship would result.
Employers may not discriminate against a qualified applicant or employee because of the known disability of an individual with whom the applicant or employee is known to have a relationship or association.
Complaints may be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Available remedies include back pay and court orders to stop discrimination.
II. Public Accommodations
Public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, theaters, doctors' offices, pharmacies, retail stores, museums, libraries, parks, private schools, and day care centers, may not discriminate on the basis of disability, effective January 26, 1992. Private clubs and religious organizations are exempt.
Physical barriers in existing facilities must be removed if removal is readily achievable (i.e., easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense). If not, alternative methods of providing the services must be offered, if those methods are readily achievable.
All alterations or new construction in public accommodations, as well as in "commercial facilities" such as office buildings, must be accessible.
Entities such as hotels that also offer transportation generally must provide equivalent transportation service to individuals with disabilities.
Individuals may bring private lawsuits to obtain court orders to stop discrimination, but money damages cannot be awarded.
Individuals can also file complaints with the Attorney General who may file lawsuits to stop discrimination and obtain money damages and penalties.
III. Transportation
Public bus and rail systems
New buses or rail vehicles ordered on or after August 26, 1990, must be accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Existing rail systems must have one accessible car per train by July 26, 1995.
Transit authorities must provide comparable paratransit or other special transportation services to individuals with disabilities who cannot use fixed route bus services, unless an undue burden would result.
New bus or rail stations must be accessible. Alterations to existing stations must be accessible. When alterations to primary function areas are made, an accessible path of travel to the altered area (and the bathrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving that area) must be provided to the extent that the added accessibility costs are not disproportionate to the overall cost of the alterations.
Existing "key stations" in rapid rail, commuter rail, and light rail systems must be made accessible by July 26, 1993, unless an extension of up to 20 years is granted (30 years, in some cases, for rapid and light rail).
Existing intercity rail stations (Amtrak) must be made accessible by July 26, 2010.
Individuals may file complaints with the Department of Transportation or bring private lawsuits.
Privately operated bus and van companies
New over-the-road buses ordered on or after July 26, 1996 must be accessible.
Other new vehicles, such as vans, must be accessible, unless the transportation company provides service to individuals with disabilities that is equivalent to that operated for the general public.
Other private transportation operations, including station facilities, must meet the requirements for public accommodations Individuals may file complaints with the Attorney General or bring private lawsuits under the public accommodations procedures.
IV. State and local government operations
State or local governments may not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities. All government facilities, services, and communications must be accessible consistent with the requirements of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
V. Telecommunications Relay Services
Companies offering telephone service to the general public must offer telephone relay services to individuals who use telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDD's) or similar devices.
Individuals may file complaints with the Federal Communications Commission.
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became federal law in 1992, many of us still have little understanding of what it is. The second in a series of articles about the ADA this one briefly focuses on Title I of the Act that deals with discrimination in employment. It relies heavily on an article by Barbara Lee "A Decade of the Americans with Disabilities Act: Judicial Outcomes and Unresolved Problems," Industrial Relations vol. 42 no. 1 (January 2003) pp.11-30.
Title I of the ADA, which covers all employers with 15 or more employees, requires the employer to provide 'reasonable accommodation' for a 'qualified' individual with a 'disability' unless so doing would result in 'undue hardship.'. Research conducted on the cost of accommodating disabled workers, both prior to and after enactment of the ADA, has demonstrated that such direct costs are relatively low, and surveys of employers have concluded that most employers are complying with the ADA. For example, a survey sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 82% of the respondents made existing facilities physically accessible, 79% applied human resource policies flexibly as accommodations, and 67% restructured jobs or modified work hours as accommodations. Furthermore, most of the respondents in this survey reported that making accommodations for their workers was 'easy'; the task reported to be most difficult was 'changing co-worker or supervisor attitudes toward employees with disabilities'.
However, when the ADA is used as grounds for litigation, the outcome is usually against the plaintiff and in favor of the defendant:
Disposition of 168,699 charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, July 26 1992 - September 30, 2001
| Number | Percent | |
|---|---|---|
| Partially or totally favorable outcome for employee | ||
| Settlements | 9,908 | 5.9 |
| Withdrawal of claim with benefits paid by employer | 8,364 | 5.0 |
| EEOC finding of reasonable cause to believe ADA violated | 10,347 | 6.1 |
| Findings of no reasonable cause to believe ADA violated | 89,480 | 53.0 |
| Case closed administratively (no ruling on the merits) | 50,600 | 30.0 |
| Total | 168,699 | 100.0 |
Source: Table 1 from Lee whose source was 'EEOC, "Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 Charges, FY1992-FY2001", available at http://www/eeoc.gov/stats/ada-charges.html.
Lee concludes that the law needs to be amended: "As a result of the Supreme Court's Garrett decision, employees of state agencies are barred from seeking money damages in federal court for alleged ADA violations, whether or not their claims are meritorious. Furthermore, the definition of disability is vague enough to allow courts to interpret 'disability' in ways that exclude many serious disorders from coverage and run counter to the act's purpose." (P.27)
Susan De Vos
4412 Social Sciences Bldg.
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706-1393
FAX: 608-262-8400
email: devos@ssc.wisc.edu
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became federal law in 1992. The third in a series of articles about the ADA this one briefly focuses on Title II of the Act that deals with Public Accommodations. It relies heavily on a DOJ publication titled Title II Highlights. Much information on the ADA can be found at http://www.ada.gov. You may need to inform others of your rights.
Public accommodations under Title II include all activities, services, and programs of public entities (such as State legislatures and courts, town meetings, police and fire departments, motor vehicle licensing, and employment) of State and local governments whether or not they receive Federal funds.
State and local governments must eliminate unnecessary eligibility rules that deny individuals with disabilities (IWD) an equal opportunity to enjoy their services or programs unless "necessary." They are also required to make reasonable modifications in policies or procedures that would deny equal access to IWD, unless a fundamental alteration in the program would result. Finally, they may not place special charges on IWD to cover the costs of measures necessary to ensure nondiscriminatory treatment, such as providing qualified interpreters.
Modifications need not include removing physical barriers, such as stairs, in all existing buildings, as long as the entities make their programs accessible. This could involve:
- Relocating a service to an accessible facility, e.g., moving an office from the 3rd to the 1st floor;
- Providing an aide to enable an IWD to obtain the service;
- Providing benefits or services at an individual's home, or at an alternative accessible site.
However, a state or local government enterprise may not carry an individual with a disability as a method of providing program access, except in manifestly exceptional circumstances.
Integration of IWD into the mainstream of society is fundamental to the purposes of the ADA. Even when separate programs are permitted, an individual with a disability still has the right to choose to participate in the regular program. State and local governments may not require an IWD to accept a special accommodation.
Where necessary, the public entity must provide appropriate auxiliary aids to ensure effective communication with individuals with hearing, vision, or speech impairments.
The ADA does not require retrofitting of existing buildings to eliminate barriers, but public entities must ensure that newly constructed buildings and facilities are free of architectural and communication barriers that restrict access or use by IWD. When a public entity undertakes alterations to an existing building, it must ensure that the altered portions are accessible.
If other attempts to bring compliance fail, an individual may file a signed complaint containing the complainant's name and address, and describing the public entity's alleged discriminatory action to:
Disability Rights Section
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
P.O. Box 66738
Washington, D.C. 20035-6738
Complaints may also be sent to agencies designated to process complaints under the regulation, or to agencies that provide Federal financial assistance to the program in question.
This is the fourth in a series of articles about The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which became federal law in 1992. It touches on Title III of the Act that deals with private facilities open to the public such as restaurants, retail stores and doctors' offices, relying heavily on a Department of Justice publication titled Title III Highlights. Much information on the ADA can be found at http://www.ada.gov. Violations exist everywhere, and you need to inform others of your rights.
Title III covers private entities open to the public (including commercial facilities) , here called 'public accommodations', whereas Title II covers public (non-private) entities such as State legislatures and courts, town meetings, police and fire departments, motor vehicle licensing, and employment.
The ADA distinguishes between public accommodations (PA) structures occupied before and after January 26, 1993. For those occupied before, it lists either structural or, if impractical, service modifications. Public accommodations must:
- Provide goods and services in an integrated setting. For example, restricting individuals with Down's syndrome to only certain areas of a restaurant would violate the regulation.
- Eliminate unnecessary eligibility standards or rules that would deny individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to enjoy the goods and services of that place. For instance, requiring a blind person to produce a driver's license in order to cash a check is prohibited.
- Make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal access if that modification does not "fundamentally alter" the goods, services, or operations of that PA. For example, guide dogs and other service animals must usually be permitted.
- Furnish auxiliary aids when necessary to ensure effective communication. This may include qualified interpreters, television captioning and decoders, TDDs, brailed materials etc.
- Remove architectural and structural communication barriers. This may include installing ramps, making curb cuts, rearranging tables and other furniture, widening doorways, installing grab bars in toilet stalls, and adding raised letters or Braille to elevator control buttons.
- Maintain accessible features of facilities and equipment.
The government has prepared special guidelines for the new construction (as of 1992) of places for Small Business, Child Care Facilities etc. Those guidelines contain general design ("technical") standards for buildings and sites, such as parking, accessible routes, ramps, stairs, elevators, doors, entrances, drinking fountains, bathrooms, controls and operating mechanisms, storage areas, alarms, signage, telephones, fixed seating and tables, assembly areas, automated teller machines, and dressing rooms. They also have specific standards for restaurants, medical care facilities, libraries, and transient lodging (such as hotels and shelters).
Private parties may bring lawsuits to obtain court orders to stop discrimination. No monetary damages will be available in such suits although a reasonable attorney's fee may be awarded. If there is a "pattern" of discrimination, the Attorney General may sue. In that case, civil penalties, not to exceed $50,000 for a first violation or $100,000 for any subsequent violation, may be awarded.
For additional information, go to http://www.ada.gov on the Web, write to:
Disability Rights Section
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
P.O. Box 66738
Washington, D.C. 20035-6738
Or
Phone:
(800) 514-0301 (voice)
(800) 514-0383 (TDD)
This is the fifth in a series of articles about the The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) which became federal law in 1992. It touches on the part of Title II of the Act that deals with public transportation, relying heavily on a Department of Transportation document titled Access for Persons with Disabilities. Much information on ADA transit issues can also be found at http://www.fta.dot.gov/transit_data_info/ada/. The general ADA website http://www.ada.gov/ provides much information on a variety of ADA topics. For a law to have effect, disabled people need to know about it, inform others, and assert their rights.
For example, all Americans must have access to transit to meet basic mobility needs yet even past "public" transit was usually inaccessible to disabled people. The Americans with Disabilities Act stipulates that transit services and facilities that are available to the public, including air and road public transportation, must be accessible. Yet the reality remains that many areas do not have accessible transit.
People commonly mistakenly equate transit for disabled people with paratransit. Paratransit usually involves unique routes, separately-scheduled rides, and specially-equipped vehicles. Paratransit is often difficult and expensive to coordinate, and may be of poor quality. Every local transit authority designs and operates its own paratransit program, and there are sixty-two different federal transportation programs that fund services for the disadvantaged. There is no standard and little coordination. The full amount special programs spend on transportation is unknown because specialized transportation is usually not tracked separately from other spending.
Since paratransit usage has resulted in higher than anticipated costs, more attention is finally being paid to mainstreaming. Many new mainline vehicles are being equipped with ramps or lifts, and tie-down apparatuses. Some also use an automated bus stop announcement system (ITS) that permits individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities to be oriented to their location. Here in Madison, Wisconsin, the ADA Paratransit Oversight Subcommittee of the city's Transit Commission is changing its name to the ADA Transit Subcommittee to acknowledge the fact that disabled people can use both paratransit and accessible fixed route services.
As the use of many accessible devices is still fairly new, there is often need for the special education of both mainline vehicle operators and mainline disabled travelers. For instance, operators often do not know how to communicate with people who are hard of hearing, often do not call out stops for visually-impaired people, may not take the time to tie down wheelchairs, may not understand the concept of a service animal or may not check that a vehicle's lift or ramp is indeed working before taking to the road. In turn, disabled people often do not know their rights and do not insist that certain services be provided. For instance, I have had to insist more than once that a driver secure my wheelchair with the available straps. Visually impaired people often comment on how few drivers call out stops unless specifically asked. Nor can a mobility-impaired individual expect a driver to know the special barriers snow and ice can create; he or she often has to ask for reasonable accommodation, and has to expect it to be provided.
This is the sixth and final piece in a series of articles about the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) which became federal law in 1992. It touches on Title IV of the Act that deals with telecommunications for hearing-impaired and speech-impaired individuals, relying heavily on a Federal Communications Commission document titled Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The general ADA website provides much information on a variety of ADA topics. For a law to have effect, disabled people need to know about it, inform others, and assert their rights.
According to the ADA, common carriers providing telephone voice transmission services shall, not later than 3 years after July 26, 1990, provide special relay services, individually, through designees, through a competitively selected vendor, or in concert with other carriers. Often that will entail a TDD (telecommunications for the deaf) device or other non-voice terminal device on one end, an intermediary who has a receiving machine and a person without such a device on the other end. TDD devices are machines that employ graphic communication in the transmission of coded signals through a wire or radio communication system.
Special relay services must be available all the times. The operator cannot refuse a call, limit its length, intentionally alter the conversation, disclose the content of the conversation or keep records of the content beyond the duration of the call. The service must not cost more than other functionally equivalent voice communication services with respect to such factors as the duration of the call, the time of day, and the distance from point of origination to point of termination.
The FCC certifies common carriers if the Commission determines that-
- The program makes available to hearing-impaired and speech-impaired individuals, either directly, through designees, through a competitively selected vendor, or through regulation of intrastate common carriers, intrastate telecommunications relay services in such State in a manner that meets or exceeds the requirements of regulations prescribed by the Commission; and
- The program makes available adequate procedures and remedies for enforcing the requirements of the State program.
If a complaint about intrastate service to a State agency certified by the FCC has not been resolved within 180 days, the federal agency will intervene. The Commission may suspend or revoke certification if, after notice and opportunity for hearing, the Commission determines that such certification is no longer warranted. In a State whose program has been suspended or revoked, the Commission shall take such steps as may be necessary to ensure continuity of telecommunications relay services.
